Description

The East Buttress of El Cap is a classic adventure up the right hand shoulder of El Cap. You don't get the feeling you're actually on El Cap, though you are afforded with great views of the tremendous southeast face. Of note, the route also serves as a convenient introduction to the East Slabs descent route which is very nearby upon topping out.

As one of the more popular routes in the Valley, so be prepared for traffic jams and a long day, but because the crux comes early and most of the climbing is much more moderate, fast parties can usually finish the route in about half a day.

Approach is typically via a slog up the ramp or the Moratorium. The latter adds four amazing (and more difficult) pitches to the East Buttress, but is somewhat out of character which is one of adventure.

Sorry about the brief description. I adopted it and haven't had a chance to update it - I will add a pitch-by-pitch breakdown shortly.

There used to be a bolt (or was it a pin?) at the crux. But I gather it is no longer there? Great topo, by the way.

In the spring there is sometimes a spectacular waterfall just west of this route. What often happens that time of year is that the route is dry in the morning, but then the wind begins blowing slightly up the valley, and the waterfall is blown onto the route! Beware of this, just because it faces south in the spring it may not be dry. It can be exciting watching the waterfall drift towards you from the top of the second pitch!

I'm considering this route for my annual big climb/road trip. I've read the stuff about this route online, the Supertopo section, etc. I'm also comfortable at this level on trad granite. But details, details...Anyone have any tips re: Gear? Anything particularly useful, esp. something to double up on, etc? Any quirks on routefinding? Are the pitches fair for the grade or sandbags? Any other tips for this route? Thanks.

The only way I ever got to climb the Captain. I'm pretty sure that was a pin pounded in the corner for pro. The climb was a challange for me. I led all the 5.9's. I had just gotten my first pair of sticky rubber shoes that summer. It was a little polished even then.

The Super Topo guide book indicates that the crux traverse on pitch 2 can not be aided. I found this to be inaccurate. The belay on top of pitch 1 hangs just left of this 2-3 move crux. Falling at that point involves swinging back into your belayer. In my case there was a party behind us (with the popularity of this route you can expect to share it with others) thus, we decided to aid past this section instead of trying to figure out the move and holding up others. Here is the aid beta: down climbed about 4 feet, traversed right to the corner, placed a small cam (BD C3 00) just below an old unusable pin, stepped up on a sling and kept on going. My personal opinion is that this crux is out of character with the rest of the route and skipping it is no major loss.

Not sure how you'd know, Sergio, if you didn't do the moves. Calling a sequence of moves on a route that follows natural features and weaknesses 'out of character' is weak. Judging the aesthetic value of that sequence relative to the rest of the climb when you haven't done the moves is weaker. It ain't a gym route, it's a natural line, take it on its own terms. Grrr, end pointless rant here, sorry.

Did the moves, reversed the moves, fell, aided for speed. My personal opinion is that it is a great route regardless of how someone gets past the crux. But please don't take my personal opinion too seriously; go find out for yourself.

Fun route, although there is a lot of choss and 4th class on it. Half the pitches were good, the other half were forgettable. Still, a fun trip up an iconic rock.

The crux is a short sequence that's all there.

The supertopo lists one pitch, maybe p10, as the 'psychological crux' with poor pro. BS. Be sure you get to lead this pitch, it is the best on the route by far, and takes great nuts and small cams all over the face, with really fun climbing.

bailed from the top of the 7th pitch (supertopo pitches) in late june due to massive amounts of water from horsetail falls. it seems that it was an abnormally wet year. we checked horsetail from the base and it didn't seem to be making it to the route but things were quite different when we got up there. we did pitch 7 around 11AM and there was maybe 1-5mm thick water sheeting down the rock. doing the mini roof in these conditions was pretty exciting, but it looked like the route was soaked for at least another 4 pitches up.

I wonder if the crux is slightly harder after our passing because a thin edging foothold peeled off as I was pulling the crux move. it seemed a tad stiff for valley 10b, but it was only one well protected move. offset aliens worked well.

Fun route. We were able to do it in 8 pitches. The Falcon guide broke it up into 13! We simul climbed the 3rd and 4th pitches, 4th class to 5.6 arete and a ways up the ledges with no problems. The two pitches before the 5.5 traverse which is before the traverse to knobs pitch can also be linked easily with a 60m rope. Watch for rope drag on the traverse to knobs pitch. Lots of room for protection but one needs slings. Large but very polished holds. Quite possibly the money pitch. From the talus ledge above this pitch, one can run it all the way to the top. There is a fixed nut at the crux step over. Also there are fixed lines for the rap down.

I'd call the P1 chimney 5.8 at most, being generous. The only 5.9 on that pitch is the end.

Please don't be obnoxious and haul packs. It is plenty reasonable to trail packs on P1, and if they are kept small and light, it is no big deal leading with a pack on the rest of the pitches. The party in front of us hauled 2 packs for most of the pitches!

A better way to aid the crux if you're in a hurry, is to do the following (better with double ropes for the second to follow!):

From the P1 anchor, lieback up about 10-15 ft on the corner that continues above, and tension traverse over from there on bomber gear. I found the cracks beyond tricky, but stepped in a sling to get higher to set a better placement and begin free climbing.

Bring 1-2 #4 C4s and a #5 to comfortably protect P9 if you're doing the OW variation, which is mostly liebacked, with a few deep fist jams. This gear isn't needed anywhere else on the route though . . .

Be careful with cams behind that hand traverse flake on pitch 8 (Fish topo)! I stuck one behind it, and when gently testing the piece, the whole flake was moving away from the wall at an alarming rate as the cam lobes expanded. I don't think I would ever want to fall there, and definitely not on a cam.

Also, right before that flake is where we got off route. Instead of traversing the flake, we went straight up the face. The route becomes noticeably dirtier, but there are definitely signs that others have done the same: three more pitons and tons of bail slings from there on (some ancient, but one being a fairly new looking dyneema sling). We were able to finish the route by navigating short section of 10+ 11- cracks and about 50 feet of loose and super scary exfoliating slabs at the very top. Anybody know of official alternative finishes?

On Friday March 27th, I I over-cammed my buddy's #3 Camelot on pitch one before the crux finger crack and he wasn't able to retrieve it from deep in the crack with his huge man hands. If anyone comes up with that puppy, I'll trade you a good bit of beer in return. Thanks!

Recently, with an 80m rope, no simuling, we pitched out the climb thus (using Supertopo version):

1; 2-4; 5 (3rd class scramble); 6-7; 8-9; 10; 11-12.5; 12.5-top

The pitch 3 belay is known as an ant-infested spot, so climb through.

Combined with The Moratorium, it is an excellent and strenuous day. At a fairly relaxed pace, we started climbing at 7:30am on The Moratorium and topped out around 5:00pm on EB. The crux of the linkup is knowing that the involved and time-consuming climbing of The Moratorium will give way to much faster, easier climbing.

The descent is fairly straightforward and well cairned once you catch the climbers' trail (East Ledges), and all 4 rappels are fixed with ropes. Some ropes have damaged sections that are tied out near the anchors but there are two ropes at each station to allow for two separate strands for rappel. Hand lines down the remaining low 5th and 4th class sections are also in place. Very cool. I appreciate the work done to increase both the speed and degree of safety (as long as the ropes are maintained) on the descent.

No pitons at the P9 belay on the rocky ledge as of 5/30/15 as indicated in some topos, used a #3, #2, and & #1 c4s for belay. P2 GEAR BETA (potential spoiler): Pitch 2 crux can be well protected by chimneying up from the belay and placing a nut where the crack dies out. Small cams can also be placed in the lower pin scars in the corner before committing to the crux moves.

Climbed this with a 60m and when looking at the supertopo topo linked pitches 2+3, 6+7 (I don't think the lengths mentioned are correct), 9+10, 12+13. In order to link 6+7 go up from Pitch 4 anchor (bolted) to the big ledge and then move left 50 feet and up into the gully and go up the easy blocky terrain to where the real climbing starts and make your anchor there. There is no need to make an intermediate anchor (or even place pro) if you are pitching this out which makes this pitch super fast. After linking 6+7 you can make your anchor on the ledge right after pulling the roof. This worked out well for us. Many of the pins listed in the topo I did not see on route and actually found pins on route that were not listed in the topo.

Only brought one #4 Camalot for the wide on pitch 9 which was sufficient. Did half the wide part and moved onto the face and finished up the face. Neither were that hard. The moves are all there.

Hi Folks, Long shot but I thought I'd give it a try. We topped out on the East Butress of El Cap in the dark yesterday and made a colossal blunder. We forgot the small rack used and a camera in its case was also attached to the rack. This should be somewhere near the base of the tree used as the anchor on the last pitch.

If you find it, my friend and I would be appreciate its return. Thank you.